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As holiday season rapidly approaches, so does the holiday rush for retailers. This year holiday sales are expected to exceed $61 billion dollars in November and December. There are six trends to follow that are going to be what makes holiday season such a big time for small and mid-sized retailers.

Six Trends To Follow

Here is a list of six trends responsible for the $61 billion dollar holiday shopping season.

Of course, E-commerce is going to be more than 15% of the holiday sales projections. An E-commerce platform provider Volusion predicts that global retail E-commerce sales for small and mid-sized businesses will grow about 20%. Those are very impressive numbers, and something to look forward to for retailers.

Mobile devices are going to be around 16% of retail E-commerce sales. Tablet sales are also showing a particularly significant growth in E-commerce sales.

Free shipping is another huge holiday bonus. A UPS study conducted in May of 2013 demonstrated that shoppers have recommended a particular store, just because of their free shipping.

Promotions also start sooner, because people are making their wish lists even earlier now. Google sales managers Erin Dean, Jacalyn Stolt, and Nina Thatcher said “In July, nearly half of surveyed shoppers already had made plans for when to purchase their holiday gifts. Of those actively planning, 30% are expecting to start before Halloween.”

Pricing is becoming even more of an issue. A Google Consumer Survey from July of 2013 shows that shoppers actively shop around for the best price.

Smaller sellers have much more competition. Therefore, these smaller stores are starting to sell their merchandise online. Big competitors like Walmart have missed their second quarter estimated sales, because the competition is so fierce.

This year is going to be a very active one for shoppers, because of all of the smaller stores heading to E-commerce. There are pros and cons to this approach, but the main goal is to sell their merchandise. As E-commerce revenue increases so will the number of retailers getting their stores online to catch a piece of the action.